Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Relapse

Re·lapse′ (r?-l?ps′), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Relapsed (-l?pst′); p. pr. & vb. n. Relapsing.] [L. relapsus, p. p. of relabi to slip back, to relapse; pref. re- re- + labi to fall, slip, slide. See Lapse.] 1. To slip or slide back, in a literal sense; to turn back. [Obs.] Dryden.

2. To slide or turn back into a former state or practice; to fall back from some condition attained; — generally in a bad sense, as from a state of convalescence or amended condition; as, to relapse into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism; — sometimes in a good sense; as, to relapse into slumber after being disturbed.

That task performed, [preachers] relapse into themselves. Cowper.

3. (Theol.) To fall from Christian faith into paganism, heresy, or unbelief; to backslide.

They enter into the justified state, and so continue all along, unless they relapse. Waterland.

Re·lapse′, n. [For sense 2 cf. F. relaps. See Relapse, v.] 1. A sliding or falling back, especially into a former bad state, either of body or morals; backsliding; the state of having fallen back.

Alas! from what high hope to what relapse Unlooked for are we fallen! Milton.

2. One who has relapsed, or fallen back, into error; a backslider; specifically, one who, after recanting error, returns to it again. [Obs.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.